freeholders
Owners without mortgages
Freeholders are people who own land or property outright, without owing rent or feudal obligations to a superior lord.
The term is historical in most contexts, though it persists in some legal systems.
In New Jersey, freeholders were until recently the elected officials governing counties—a usage dating to colonial times when only property owners could vote or hold office.
Business holder
- estateProperty and grounds
- tenureProtected employment status
- holdingsProperty one owns
- deedWritten property conveyance
title · acreage · plot · homestead · farmland · manor · demesne · parcel
Land-for-service social structure
- manorialismMedieval estate labor system
- yeomanrySmall freeholding farmer class
- gentryHighborn but not noble
- commonsShared community resources
enclosure · burghers · serfdom · vassalage · fiefdom · tenure · demesne · charters
Right to cast ballots
- franchiseLicensed business operation
- electorateEligible voting body
- enfranchisementGranting citizenship rights
- ballotVoting document
polling · constituency · qualification · democracy · disenfranchisement · registration · ratepayer · burgess
Freedom from external control
- self-governanceIndependent management of affairs
- sovereigntySupreme independent authority
- libertyAbsence of unjust constraint
- self-determinationControl over one's fate
self-reliance · unencumbered · fee-simple · outright · freestanding · unrestricted · absolute · perpetual
proprietor
Business holder
deed · title · acreage · plot · homestead · farmland · manor · demesne · parcel · tract
feudalism
Land-for-service social structure
- manorialismMedieval estate labor system
- yeomanrySmall freeholding farmer class
- gentryHighborn but not noble
commons · enclosure · burghers · serfdom · vassalage · fiefdom · tenure · demesne · charters · colonialism
suffrage
Right to cast ballots
- franchiseLicensed business operation
- electorateEligible voting body
- enfranchisementGranting citizenship rights
ballot · polling · constituency · qualification · democracy · disenfranchisement · registration · ratepayer · burgess · propertied
independence
Freedom from external control
- self-governanceIndependent management of affairs
- sovereigntySupreme independent authority
- libertyAbsence of unjust constraint
self-determination · self-reliance · unencumbered · fee-simple · outright · freestanding · unrestricted · absolute · perpetual
- landownerslandlords, farmer, rancher, homesteader, homeowner
- property ownerslandlord, homeowners, landlords, owner, homeowner
- state governmentstate budget, state senate, state legislature, state capitol, state constitution
- commonerscommoner, commoners, peasant, peasants, common people
- local governancevillage council, mayors, local government, local councils, town meeting
- Colonial Governmentcolonial governors
freeholderstenants
Property renters
lessees · renters · leaseholders · lodgers · boarders
freeholdersvilleins
Feudal bound peasants
serfs · copyholders · bondsmen · landless peasants · vassals